


In Our Dreams

by JackONeillisTheMan



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:56:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29893206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackONeillisTheMan/pseuds/JackONeillisTheMan
Summary: So, I just rewatched this little Hallmark movie called 'In My Dreams' and I decided it was perfect for Juke fluff. They each make a wish and meet in their dreams. Is the other person real or just a fantasy? If they are real can they find each other?
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 7
Kudos: 57





	In Our Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> I left out some of the extra storylines from the movie so I could just focus on Luke and Julie, but I think it's kinda cute. I wrote this in several hours today, I started it while I was re-watching the movie early this afternoon. I hope it turned out okay!

In Our Dreams

\------------------------------

“Hey! Hey, Julie! It’s okay! I just think it’s time for you to try again!” The fashionable 22 year old woman chased her friend out the door, designing her own clothes gave her a truly unique style.

“I can’t Flynn! I _want_ to be able to perform again, I just can’t seem to make it happen!” Julie blinked back tears of frustrations as she continued walking forcefully away from the small cafe, dodging the Friday lunchtime crowds milling along the sidewalk. Her curly hair was brown to Flynn’s black braids, and she was dressed in a slightly more subdued manner.

The girls had met at the cozy place for Julie’s lunch break from work, and Flynn had seen the sign up sheet for an open mic night the next weekend that the cafe was hosting. She had pointed it out to Julie, but that had only led to the same familiar argument.

“Julie…” Flynn trailed behind her, sighing as they made it to the nearby park entrance and Julie headed straight for a bench across from a decorative fountain.

Slumping down and folding her arms, Julie waited for Flynn to catch up and sit next to her, “Maybe I should try that,” she gestured at the fountain.

It was large, and really quite pretty, but the most interesting thing about it was the local folklore, a rumor that it was a wishing fountain.

————————————————————————————

“No country Reggie! It’s just not our sound.”

“But we’re already different after losing Bobby to college across the country, couldn’t we try it?”

“Reggie, you know he’s not going to budge,” Alex rolled his eyes, they’d been going back and forth like this all morning.

“You don’t know that Alex! And you said it yourself, Luke! You’re stuck! You haven’t written anything in a week!”

“I will!” he squeaked loudly, offended, and then cleared his throat, “I just need…”

“What? A wish?” Reggie waved a hand at the fountain they were now standing in front of, the fountain that had long been rumored to grant wishes, even if no one could ever remember any actual stories to back it up.

————————————————————————————

On opposite sides of the fountain, Julie and Luke each accepted a coin from their friends. Flynn took one out of her purse, left over from her change at lunch, and Alex dug one out of his fanny pack.

———————

“Are you going to wish to be able to perform again? Because I don’t know…” Flynn was worried Julie would take this as her last chance and fully give up if it didn’t work.

“No. I think- I think I’m just going to wish for inspiration, something that will help me find my way myself.”

Julie closed her eyes and turned around, tossing the penny over her shoulder into the water.

———————

“Guys, I don’t know if I believe in this thing, but all I need is just some sort of inspiration. Just something to get me over the writer’s block.”

Luke turned around and shrugged, closing his eyes and tossing his penny over his shoulder.

———————

A strange tingle went through Julie and Luke as their coins settled on the bottom of the fountain, but each shook off the feeling and walked around the fountain and away, just missing each other.

———————————————————————————

That night Julie went to sleep as usual, curling up in bed in her quiet apartment, glad the next day was Saturday and she didn’t need to be at work. She had wanted to go to school for music, but losing her mom and not being able to play had derailed that, so now she worked as her dad’s front desk manager at his steadily growing photography business. He was disappointed for her that she wasn’t really doing what she loved, but he understood she needed time, and he was there to love and support her however he could.

Luke collapsed into bed after a long night of waiting tables, he hated how much of a cliche it was, but he needed to make money somehow as they worked to promote the band and get noticed. The restaurant shifts allowed the flexibility that he needed, and he did quite well with tips on busy evenings like tonight had been. Between he, Alex, and Reggie, they were able to afford this apartment together, even if it wasn’t in a very new or very nice building.

Julie and Luke each drifted off to sleep and almost immediately slipped into dreamland, both looking around in confusion at the sprawling park they found themselves standing in, sun shining above.

“Well, this is weird,” Luke spoke out loud.

“Excuse me?!” Julie spun around at his statement and yelled at him in surprise.

“Whoa! Who are you? Why are you in my dream?” Luke’s eyes were wide and wondering.

“Who are _you_? I normally never dream about cute guys!” she flushed as soon as the words were out, wishing her mouth hadn’t acted ahead of her brain.

The (cute, super cute- how did her brain even come up with him?!) boy raised his hand to rub the back of his neck and bit his lip, covering a shy smile. His eyes glowed with good humor, and Julie felt mesmerized by the way they shifted in color as the sun hit them when he looked at her.

“You- you think i’m cute?”

“Uhhh…”

“Because I think you’re beautiful,” Luke’s face scrunched in shock and he quickly clapped both his hands to his mouth, obviously not expecting his thought to spill out aloud.

They stared at each other for a short beat and then burst into awkward laughter that turned warm and comfortable. He held out his hand to her, and started to introduce himself, “It’s nice to meet you, I’m-“

As soon as she reached out and their hands made a sliver of contact, both were jerking awake in their separate beds, a feeling of loss washing over them.

——————————————————————

The next night, neither could wait to go to sleep, anticipation of possibly seeing each other again, although both were pretty convinced that the other was just a figment of their imagination.

They had managed to introduce themselves this time, careful not to touch, and then they had slowly opened up to each other, sharing tidbits of themselves in this dream bubble.

“It feels like I know you, how can I know you?” laying next to Julie in the soft grass, Luke propped his head up on one arm, studying her face.

“I don’t know, but I feel like I know you too,” she turned and propped her head up as well, mirroring him.

Eventually Luke couldn’t resist, and his hand stretched out to tuck a curl behind her ear. The second his finger brushed her cheek they woke up, jerking back to reality.

———————————————————————

Julie got up that Sunday and took the cover off her keyboard, carefully setting the sheet music of the last song her mom had left her on the stand, and she played and sang for the first time in over a year. The tears that flowed down her cheeks were cathartic, and the piece of her heart that had been frozen with the absence of music thawed out.She fumbled and grabbed her phone, texting a ‘911’ to Flynn.

“What?! What’s the emergency, Jules?! It’s 9 AM on a _Sunday_ , and you know how I love to sleep in on weekends!”

“I just played and sang.”

Flynn stopped short and gaped at her before breaking into a huge grin and leaping over to pull Julie into a hug. Stepping back far enough to start jumping up and down and tugging Julie along, the two girls yelled and celebrated with relief and joy.

It was only later, when they flopped down on Julie’s couch that Flynn asked the question, “What made you do it?”

The blush that suffused Julie’s cheeks had Flynn eyeing her intensely.

“I- Well, I’ve been having these dreams? And there’s this guy in them, he’s- he’s-“

“Cute?” Flynn knows that tone.

“ _So_ cute, Flynn! And he loves music, and he’s sweet, and funny…”

“And you’re _dreaming_ him.”

Julie knows that tone this time.

“It’s- it’s not like that Flynn! I mean, Luke’s just in my dreams, I don’t-“

Shaking her head, Flynn speaks the truth Julie has been denying, “My girl has a crush and his name is Luke. How’d you think of that name anyway?”

“He introduced himself,” Julie sighed as she finally acknowledged the butterflies in her stomach for what they are, she _likes_ him.

“Okay, I’m gonna need you to spill Julie, now.”

————————————————————————————————

“Okay let’s try your new song, Luke.”

He nodded, “Yeah, let’s go Reg. Alex, will you count us in?”

“1, 2, 3…”

_I feel like new sunglasses, like a brand new pair of jeans_

_I feel like taking chances, I feel a lot like seventeen_

_I feel like windows rolled down, new city, streets and cabs_

_I feel like anything can happen, laughing,_

_You take me right back, when we were kids_

_Never thought I'd feel like this_

_Like when I close my eyes and don't even care if anyone sees me dancing_

_Like I can fly, and don't even think of touching the ground_

_Like a heartbeat skip, like an open page_

_Like a one way trip on an aeroplane_

_It's the way that I feel when I'm with you, brand new_

_Brand new_

_I feel like a young John Cusack, like making big mistakes_

_I feel like for the first time in a long time I am not afraid_

_I feel like a kid, never thought it'd feel like this_

_Like when I close my eyes and don't even care if anyone sees me dancing_

_Like I can fly, and don't even think of touching the ground_

_Like a heartbeat skip, like an open page_

_Like a one way trip on an aeroplane_

_It's the way that I feel when I'm with you, brand new_

_Time will always try to make us old_

_You remind me what I used to know_

_Like when I close my eyes and don't even care if anyone sees me dancing_

_Like I can fly, and don't even think of touching the ground_

_Like a heartbeat skip, like an open page_

_Like a one way trip on an aeroplane_

_It's the way that I feel when I'm with you, brand new_

_Brand new, yeah, yeah, yeah_

_And I feel brand new_

_I feel brand new_

_I feel brand new_

“Luke, what’s with the piano in this?”

“Yeah, otherwise it’s really good, but we don’t have a keyboard player. Reggie needs to be on bass.”

“Oh. Um…” Luke blushed and his hand went up to his neck, causing intrigued looks to grow on Alex and Reggie’s faces.

“Luke…” Alex crossed his arms and stared the guitarist down.

“Um, I may have been dreaming about this girl?”

“ _What?_ ” Alex is baffled by Luke’s response.

“ _Dreaming_ about?” for once Reggie’s question is quite relevant and Alex points at him in agreement.

“Ever since Friday night I’ve been dreaming about her, about Julie. She’s beautiful, and kind, and smart, and she plays piano and… guys, her _voice_. It’s like a wrecking ball!”

Glancing at each other before turning to Luke, Alex and Reggie wear matching expressions of incredulity.

“Did he just…?”

“Is he saying he’s finally fallen in love with some _one_ , not just music, and she’s a _fantasy in his dreams?!_ ” Alex groans and starts pacing.

“She’s real to me!” Luke is angry. Julie doesn’t feel like a dream, his imagination could never have made up someone as amazing and _alive_ as her.

She had tried to distance herself on Sunday night, but finally she had admitted that she had played and sang again, the first time since she lost her mom. The dreamworld had provided them instruments, and after some encouragement, she had let him _see_ her. A few tears had traced down her cheek afterwards and it had taken everything in him not to reach out and cup her face to rub them away with his thumb.

It was now Friday, and the last several nights had been some of the best of Luke’s life. Monday night she divulged that her friend thought she was crazy and she shouldn’t get any closer to him, since he’s just a fantasy, but somehow he had convinced her not to pull away.Since then they had played music occasionally, but most of their time was spent sharing parts of themselves that they never had before. Julie spoke about losing her mom, and Luke confessed all the frustration and yelling and tears that was his relationship with his mom. 

“Wait… you said it started last Friday night?” Reggie suddenly perks up.

“Y-yeah, why?”

“You made your wish on Friday.”

Alex and Luke are both confused for a moment before realization hits.

“Oh. The fountain? So?”

“I looked it up the other day, I was curious what the original story was. Legend has it that when you toss a coin in the fountain, you dream about your true love for the next seven nights, and if you really love them, then the magic of the fountain will make them real.”

“But… that’s…. _o-kay_. Luke, you can’t really believe this?”

“She’s- she’s _real_?” his eyes are glistening, hope shining brighter than the other boys have ever seen.

Alex bit his lip in concern, “Luke…”

“Do you know anything about her that might help us find her?” Reggie turned to look at Luke expectantly.

“Her- her dad is a photographer, she works for him doing paperwork and stuff?”

Clapping his hands, Reggie bounced a little, “So let’s go look up some photographers! It’s probably close by, since she had to have also thrown a coin into the fountain.”

“Wait, what? Reggie, you didn’t tell us-“ Alex whipped his head up at the revelation.

“Didn’t I? It’s not in the original legend, but I found some old records of people’s stories. No one specifically said it, but based on what _was_ said, yeah, the other person has to have made a wish too.”

Alex just blinked at him in exasperation, that changed things, it meant she wasn’t a fantasy in Luke’s head, she really was _real_. “Guys, what are we waiting for? Let’s find this girl!”

Luke’s soft smile told Alex and Reggie exactly how important it is that they find this girl. They never thought it would happen for Luke, he was always too focused on music. He had been happier than ever the past week, though, and they were determined to help him stay that happy. All three of them had had pretty crappy families so they had made their own, and they were there for Luke no matter what. Even if it meant believing in a crazy, fantastic, magic fountain, and a legend of dreams and true love.

“Her name is Julie.” _And Luke was in love with her._

————————————————————————

“Julie! Oh my God, you’re not going to believe this!” Flynn flew through the studio door and almost threw her self across the front desk in an attempt to grab Julie’s shoulders.

“Whoa! Flynn, what are you doing?” alarm washed over Julie’s face at the frantic energy of her best friend.

“You aren’t crazy!”

“I- we’re all a little crazy, Flynn,” a smirk quirks her lips as she observes Flynn’s eyes narrow and then roll, annoyance rolling off her at Julie’s nonchalance.

“Do you want to hear what I know about ‘Dream Boy’ or not?”

Julie immediately abandons all calmness, “What are you talking about?! Like you said, Luke’s just in my head, how could you possibly-“

“He’s real.”

There’s a rushing in Julie’s ears and the world grays out, she shoots a hand to the desk to hold herself up in her chair and barely manages to whisper, “He- you- _how is that possible?!_ ”

“The fountain. You threw a penny in, and apparently the legend is alive and well.”

“Well, then freaking tell me Flynn! What is the legend? How did you even find more out about it?”

“Jules. You know I volunteer at the nursing home on Friday mornings. One of the ladies mentioned missing walks in the park, so I was telling her about how we like that one, and then she was asking about the fountain, and-“

“Flynn!”

“Fine, fine. No appreciation for a nice story. Anyway. So apparently the legend goes, that when you toss a coin in the fountain, you dream about your true love for the next seven nights, and if you really love them, then the magic of the fountain will make them real.”

“ _Will make them real?_ Wait! _Seven_ nights?! That means last night was the _last night!_ What if it’s too late?” Julie swayed on her chair again and her grip on the desk tightened in worry.

“Well, I’m not sure about that part. But we can still try! What do you know about him that could give us a clue?”

“He works at a restaurant, um, French food? He’s fluent in French.”

“Okay. That’s hot. Probably not really helpful, but bilingual is hot. Does he know you speak Spanish?”

“Yes. But can we get back on track? We need to look up French restaurants!”

“Oooh, you can have little trilingual babies, Jules!”

“Flynn. Focus. Please?” Julie raised an eyebrow in a slightly scolding look.

“Yeah, yeah. I suppose we do have to _f_ _ind_ ‘Dream Boy’ first,” Flynn sighed and came around the desk to see the computer screen as Julie pulled up Google.

“His name is Luke.” _And Julie was in love with him._

—————————————————————————————

“How can there be this many photographers around here?!”

“Chill, Alex. It is LA.She said she works the front desk, managing appointments, and billing, and stuff. We can just walk in and it will either be her, or it won’t,” Luke was hopeful.

“There’s tons of them and it’s already after noon. What happens when they close, and we’ve only been to, like, 3 of them?”

Luke’s face fell, “Oh.”

“You’re being mean, Alex. We just have to believe that we’ll get to _hers_ in time. Now, we have a list, let’s go!” Reggie grabbed Luke and Alex’s arms and yanked them out of the rented garage they used for a studio.

“Hey, you boys already done for the day?”

“Hey, Mr. M! Shouldn’t you be at work?” Reggie liked the man who owned the house with the garage they had just found a month ago to rent. After Bobby moved out-of-state, they couldn’t use his anymore. They almost never interacted, since Mr. M was usually always at work when the boys were there in the middle of the day, and they actually weren’t even sure what he did for a job.

“Yeah, I just forgot something. Can’t be missing it for my next appointment.”

“Right. Well, we have some errands to run. Have a good day, Mr. M!”

“You too boys!”

The next several hours were spent criss-crossing the city, searching desperately for a photography studio that had a receptionist named Julie, and matched what Luke could recall of descriptions Julie had shared with him. They learned after the first stop that if she wasn’t there at the desk they were screwed. The first receptionist had lectured them about privacy, and how stalking was creepy, not cute, and they had to concede that it was silly to think anyone would give out an employee’s name to a bunch of strangers.

They were walking down the street near the park with the fountain, eating hot dogs from a nearby food truck for dinner when it happened. Right as they were passing a nice little cafe, there was a call of ‘Look out!’ that Reggie and Luke both dodged, but Alex wasn’t as lucky.A skateboarder mowed him down and then all of a sudden they had lost Alex to a coffee date with a cute stranger, one who called him ‘Hotdog’ and offered to help him clean up his shirt, that the hot dog and condiments had gotten smashed into when he was knocked down. The long-haired skateboarding guy flustering and flirting the drummer right into the cafe they had been walking past.

“Huh. Well, I’m happy for Alex, but this _sucks_. I’m never going to find her.”

Reggie patted Luke’s back consolingly, “Hey, you just gotta keep the faith. _Don’t stop believing…hold on to that feeling!_ ” He broke into song at the end, and it did coax a small smile out of Luke.

“Thanks, Reg. I think I just need to be alone to think now, you know?I’ll meet you at home.”

“I guess. Good luck, buddy!” Reggie gave a final wave and walked off the opposite direction of Luke.

———————————————————————————————

“Do you even know if he might be working tonight? You should have asked for his schedule, or better yet, his freaking cell phone number, Jules!”

“Well, I would have if I had known he was real! You’re the one who spent most of this week telling me I made him up and he only existed in my dreams, Flynn!” Julie barely missed bumping into a brunette boy in a red flannel and leather jacket who had stopped dead in front of her and Flynn and spun around, “Jeez, dude! Watch it, this is a busy sidewalk, you can’t just stop like that!”

“Is your name Julie?” He was looking at her with awe, like he couldn’t quite believe she was there.

Exchanging a nervous look with Flynn, Julie nodded warily, “Um, yeah. Why-“

“It’s really you! He said you were beautiful, and he was not exaggerating!” The strange boy threw his arms around her in a lightning fast hug before stepping back and grinning as he bounced in excitement.

“Who said?” Flynn asked for Julie, since she was piecing together a few things Luke had said about his best friends during their dreams.

“Lu-“

“Reggie. You’re Reggie, aren’t you?”

“That’s me! Man, Julie, we’ve been looking for you all day!” he gestured to Flynn, “Your friend here is right, you two really should have just exchanged phone numbers!”

“No kidding! But- you’ve been looking for me? We’ve been looking too, for…” Julie caught Reggie’s arm and squeezed, her eyes wide and hopeful, “Where’s Luke? He’s really been trying to find me?”

“Almost all day. I just left him a little while ago, he was really sad we hadn’t found you so he went to go mope alone. Well, he called it ‘going to think,’ but really, I know his mopey face when I see it, and-“

“Reggie! _Where did he go?_ ”

Flynn giggled in the background, Reggie was pretty cool, he talked kinda like she did, also having trouble staying on point. It was a little funny to watch Julie make her exasperated face at someone else for once.

“He went…” Reggie’s face dropped, “I don’t know where he went, actually.”

“Can’t you just call him? I mean, _you_ must have his number?”

“Flynn, you’re a genius!” Julie hugged her gratefully, but deflated quickly when Reggie spoke up again.

“I can’t. I left my phone at home,’ he perked up a little again as a thought hit him, “But we could have Alex call him! He’s just back at the cafe having coffee with this cute skateboarder that ran him over on the sidewalk.”

Julie snickered at that, Luke had told her how proper Alex could be sometimes, and she was sure he would have been flustered at getting knocked down.

Flynn looped her arms in one each of Julie’s and Reggie’s, “Let’s go then! The sooner we get Luke and Julie together, the better!”

————————————————————————————————

“I can’t call him. He left his phone at the studio, Reggie, remember? He’s always complaining about it in his pocket during practice, so he leaves it on the table. We rushed out of there so fast I _know_ he didn’t grab it,” Alex was looking up at the three people hovering next to the table he sat at with Willie (he has no idea how he got so lucky as to be pancaked by the cute skateboarder, but he’s _so_ happy he did).

“So you guys are kinda disasters, huh? That’s cute, Alex,” Willie grinned at the blond drummer, and propped his chin on his hand, just enjoying the sight of Alex’s face.

Alex blushed under the scrutiny, but beamed happily back.

“Aww, you two are adorable. But now what are we supposed to do? Just wait? Arrange to meet up with you guys tomorrow so Julie and Luke can meet in reality finally then?” Flynn cut to the chase with her question, and everyone winced sympathetically at the sad and impatient expression on Julie’s face, but shrugged and nodded.

They couldn’t think of another plan, since the boys had no idea how late Luke would stay out moping, and no idea where he might be. He was pretty good at walling himself off when he wanted to. Julie had an inkling he would either be at the beach or at the boys’ practice studio, but she had to admit she was a little worried about finally seeing him in person, so she didn’t ask Reggie and Alex where the studio was.

She and Flynn just exchanged cell numbers with Alex, and added Reggie’s number to their phones as well. Julie shook her head in refusal when Luke’s number was offered to her, she wanted him to give it to her because _he_ wanted to, not get it from one of his friends before they even met for real.

————————————————————

“So, what are you going to do now?” Flynn’s arm was linked with Julie’s again, as the girls headed away from the cafe and back towards Flynn’s car.

“Can you just drop me off at my apartment? I might as well just settle in for the night, there’s nothing to be done until tomorrow.”

“Sure, Jules. Do you want to watch a movie, do a girls night?” she didn’t really want to leave Julie alone to be sad by herself.

“No. Thanks, though. I’m probably going to go to bed early.”

Flynn shrugged and decided not to push, and shortly she was dropping the girl off in front of her apartment building with a wave goodbye.

————————————————————————

Luke stuck his hands in his pockets as he walked away from Reggie, he was frustrated and sad. How was he supposed to find Julie now? It was the eighth night, he wouldn’t be meeting her in his dreams tonight. He let out a deep sigh as he slumped down onto a bench across from the fountain that he mentally cursed and praised for getting him in this mess, Luke rubbed his face with both hands and wondered how he was ever supposed move on.

Losing Julie felt like losing a piece of himself, as crazy as it was, considering that he had only known her for a week. Reggie had told him to keep the faith, but all he could think about was how much he wished he could have touched her in their dreams. Held her when she cried about her mom, hugged her when she smiled and laughed at him, cupped her face and pressed a kiss to her forehead when she looked up at him with her big, beautiful, brown eyes that had captivated him from the very first night.

Suddenly he couldn’t sit still any longer, he got up and headed for the bus stop. He needed to get to the studio, he needed his guitar.

\--------------------------

Luke had been there for hours, just strumming random chords, scribbling words in his journal. They weren’t really even phrases or lines, just random words, but it was calming for him. The last couple hours he had felt restless, and wired, like an electric current was buzzing under his skin. Mr. M had come out around 8, asking if he was okay, since Luke usually wasn’t out here this late.

“I’m fine, I just… I have some pieces of a song stuck in my head and I’m trying to, just, get them out, I guess?”

“Ah. My wife used to do that, too. Well, don’t stay up too late. Rose always said letting her music free in her dreams helped her find direction when a song was being especially elusive. Good luck, Luke.”

“Thanks Mr. M.”

“I keep telling you boys, you can call me Ray,” he laughed and went back to the house.

Luke smiled for a moment, Mr- _Ray_ really was a nice guy. Then he went back to strumming and scribbling.

————————————————————----

It was creeping up on 10 PM and Julie was restless. She had been so close today, and knowing she wouldn’t be sharing her dreams with Luke tonight, since it was the eighth night, was depressing her. With a growl of frustration, she got up and swapped her pajama shorts and tank top for some leggings and an oversize sweatshirt, slipping her feet into her tennis shoes, she grabbed her glasses and her keys, deciding it was time for her to visit a ghost of her past for the first time.

Driving to her childhood home was difficult. She had moved out in an effort to be an adult, and to put all the raw and painful memories of her mom out of sight. It was just, tonight her mom’s studio out in the garage called to her, the same way her mom’s song had called to her not quite a week ago, after the second night talking to Luke. She wanted to see the studio again, feel the memory of her Mom there.

She knew her dad had recently rented it to a band for them to practice in, but it was still the Molina’s garage, and Julie couldn’t imagine a band would be there practicing on a Friday night when they could be out playing an open mic night, or even a paid gig, if they were good. She didn’t know anything about them, she had shook her head and held up her hand at her dad when he tried to tell her about them. She could accept that the studio needed to be used, but it was just a lot easier if she didn’t actively think about it.

When she arrived, she was surprised to see a faint light under the door, and she scrunched her nose in distaste, someone in the band must have left a light on. Didn’t they think about not wasting energy? She made a mental note to tell her dad he needed to give them a stern talking to when she saw him next. She stepped up to the door and grasped the handle, taking a deep breath and pulling it open.

————————————————————————

It was 10:30 PM and Luke looked up at the sound of the studio door, wondering if it was Mr- _Ray_ (he needed to remember that!) again, or if maybe Reggie or Alex had decided they needed to track him down.

He was completely wrong.

His pick fell from his mouth at the sight of her standing in the doorway, “ _Julie._ ”

Her eyes went huge with shock, “ _Luke?_ But I’m awake? I drove over here! And, it’s the _eighth_ night!”

“I’m awake too, or at least I think I am. _Julie,_ ” he set his guitar aside and stood, taking a hesitant step towards her, his hand half raised towards her before he even realized.

“No! If this is a dream, and we’re lucky enough to still share it… I don’t want to wake up. I want to spend one more night with you before I see you for real and you tell me it’s better if we just stay a dream,” tears were trailing down her cheeks at the overwhelming feeling of seeing him here in her Mom’s space, her fears about losing him suddenly getting the better of her.

“I would never do that. I believe you’re real, I just spent several hours today trying to find you, to tell you-“

She interrupted him with a slightly hysterical giggle, “I met Reggie and Alex. They said you were looking for me, but we just missed each other, and you didn’t have your phone so they couldn’t call you, and I- I didn’t want to wait until tomorrow, but... I was so restless, I decided I could finally come here, finally visit my Mom’s studio-“

“This was your Mom’s studio? Then Mr- _Ray_ is your _dad_?”

“How-“

“We rent this space from him, this is where my band practices! Jules, we have been so close! _How_ have we never met before?”

“You- you’re-“ Julie stared at him for a long moment, and then flew across the room into his arms, trusting him to catch her, and trusting that they would finally not wake up when they touched.

And she was right.

She pressed her face to his chest as he buried his into her hair, both of them just breathing each other in and blinking back tears.Eventually they pulled back, their hands automatically going to cup each other’s faces in wonder at the contact.

“I can _feel_ you, Luke. I can actually _feel_ you.”

“I can feel _you_ , Jules. God, I’m so happy right now,” he huffed out a breathless laugh and leaned down to touch his forehead to hers, drinking in the sight of her eyes and face so close to him.

“What does this mean? Do you- I mean, I know I-“

“I love you. I want to be with you, Jules. Please tell me you want to be with me too?”

It was her turn to let out a breathless laugh, “Oh my God, Luke, yes! I want to be with you too. I love you.”

His lips broke into a heart-stopping smile of happiness, and one hand slid to the back of her head as the other traced down her neck, over her shoulder, and down to the small of her back to pull her closer.

“It seems like I’ve been dreaming of this forever,” he brushed the tip of his nose over hers and then tilted his head down to meet her lips, kissing her with what seemed like a lifetime of longing, passion, and love. She reciprocated with the same intensity. They had found each other at last, with a little bit of magic from the fountain, and they were going to live happily ever after together.

——————————————————————————

**Author's Note:**

> The song is 'Brand New' by Ben Rector
> 
> I'm still working on the next chapter of AMOQC, hoping to get a lot done on that tomorrow. I just had to get this idea/fic out of my head!


End file.
